January 15, 2009

Did poisoned U.S. dog food kill Chinese dogs?

First, the Chinese poisoned our dogs and cats with contaminated pet food. Now Chinese authorities say a real or counterfeit brand of U.S.-made food � Optima – has killed or sickened dozens of dogs in several Chinese cities.

Ryan McLaughlin, a Canadian who lives in Suzhou, China, says he spent Christmas and New Year’s Day painfully watching Addie, his year-old golden retriever, die as her liver shut down after being poisoned by contaminants in the Optima dog food he says the pup was fed.

Addie from Ryan McLaughlin

He writes in his blog of the ordeal of trying to keep Addie alive and of how outraged he was that representatives of the Chinese company that imported the dog food came to the vet where Addie was being treated and said that they would cover all medical costs and, in the event of her death, they would come up with compensation of some sort.

“How exactly do they calculate that?” McLaughlin wrote. “Pro-rated from time of birth with a bonus for a good temperament and numbers of hours trained?

He said he understands that the company was doing damage control, but “they very likely killed my dog and actually had the audacity (to say) they’ll reimburse us based on book value for the breed plus a bit for pain and suffering.”

Addie and the other dogs were apparently sicken by a lethal aflatoxins contaminating the grain used in the food. The fungi is poisonous by-products that can be found on all grains and peanuts. It causes aflatoxicosis, which attacks the liver of animals and humans, and exposure to high levels can lead to acute liver failure or death within days.

Chinese press reports say the Ministry of Agriculture has ordered that sales of Optima be halted as they attempt to track the source of the tainted dog food.

While Optima is the name of an American dog food brand, it was unclear if the food sold in China came from the United States.

In the U.S., Optima products are sold by Mars Inc., which markets several popular brands of dog food.

Optima Dog Food

I asked Mars what they knew about the poisonings. Debra Fair, Mars’ public relations manager, said they were investigating the “situation.”

“Mars is aware of recent reports that dogs in the People’s Republic of China have died as a result of consuming what appeared to be Optima brand pet food. However, Mars does not sell Optima branded products in China,” Fair wrote me in an e-mail.

“Our initial findings suggest that the affected pet food was not manufactured by, nor under the authority of, Mars or any of its affiliated companies.”

She told me that Mars only sells that dog food in Taiwan.

But that statement does nothing to clarify the source of the poisoned food because Chinese officials said the Optima that sickened the dogs was imported to China through a Taiwan company, Natural Pet.

Fair said Mars will continue its investigation into this matter, “including working closely with FDA and other regulatory authorities who are investigating this situation.”

I’ve contacted the Taiwan exporter and the FDA for more information, but haven’t heard back yet.

Over the past four years, FDA has recalled hundreds of U.S. brands of pet food containing tainted wheat gluten and the chemical melamine. In 2007, that was the case with more than 150 brands of cat and dog food, after some pets became ill or died from kidney failure after eating food from China.

Last year, Mars Petcare US announced a recall of dry cat and dog food products manufactured at its Allentown, Penn., facility because of potential contamination with salmonella.